Report says Sammy Sosa tested positive in 2003

Paul SullivanTribune reporter

A New York Times report that Sammy Sosa tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003 reverberated through the White Sox and Cubs clubhouses before Tuesday's postponed opener of the City Series.

Cubs general manager Jim Hendry, who was Sosa's boss in 2003, declined to talk in detail about the newspaper's story, which cited anonymous , "lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year."

"As soon as somebody writes a story saying somebody did something, that doesn't make it a fact," Hendry said.

Sosa has been the subject of steroid speculation for years, based on changes in his physical appearance, his rapid ascent to home-run hitting legend by 1998 and his testimony before Congress in 2005, during which the slugger said he never had taken "illegal performance-enhancing drugs" and added that he "[never] had injected myself or had anyone inject me with anything." Sosa testified alongside Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Curt Schilling.

But no physical evidence had been reported that might prove he had taken performance-enhancing drugs, and Dusty Baker, Sosa's manager in 2003 and '04, once referred to such speculation as "steroid McCarthyism."

Tribune efforts to reach Sosa were unsuccessful. Commissioner Bud Selig would not comment on the record.

Now that the evidence reportedly exists to prove Sosa used steroids, his legacy and Hall of Fame candidacy could be in tatters as voters wrestle with how to judge players from the steroid era. Sosa ranks sixth on baseball's all-time home run list and, as with McGwire's first three years on the ballot, could find support lacking. Sosa had said recently that he expected to "calmly wait" for Cooperstown to come calling.

While the Sosa story dominated the pregame news conferences Tuesday, managers Ozzie Guillen and Lou Piniella said the names of those who tested positive during testing in 2003 should be made public to clear other players. The results were promised to remain confidential but since then some have leaked, ensnaring Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez, who acknowledged the results after a Sports Illustrated report.

"Why don't we come up with the [bleeping] names, and that's it?" Guillen said. "Every time somebody says he's clean, the next day it's in the [bleeping] paper. Alex [Rodriguez] says, 'They can check me.' He gone. Manny [Ramirez] say, 'They can check me.' He gone.

"A couple of days ago, Sammy says, 'I'm clean, I should be in the Hall of Fame.' He gone. ... OK, don't wait for those guys. Right here. Open it up, we're talking about one time, and let's move on. Because I know in one month I'll be sitting with [the media] talking about someone else."

Piniella said during spring training that the names should be released. He reiterated that notion Tuesday.

"It would probably create a lot of havoc for a while, but it might be the best thing," Piniella said. "But look, I don't make those decisions. I have enough problems handling the Chicago Cubs, so let baseball handle this the way they want."

Hendry was upset that the discussion of alleged steroid users from the '03 test tainted the names of the 1,000-plus players who passed the drug screening. Asked if he ever had talked to Sosa or any of his players about steroids, Hendry simply replied: "No."

Did Hendry ever suspect any of his players were on steroids?

"There was an era in college baseball where you'd scout guys and you know for a while that creatine was passed around like M & Ms," Hendry said. "And you always heard that it was mixed with stuff, and all of a sudden home runs were up. And was it the aluminum bat or something else?

"I think if you were in baseball of any kind for a 10-15 year period, you sometimes left the ballpark thinking, 'Wow, that guy has a lot more power than he used to. Or that guy is a lot bigger than he used to be. You didn't think a guy was necessarily going in the back room and doing something before the game.

"But you certainly had your doubts. From a general manager's point of view, it became a tough job, contract-wise, or free-agent wise, or long-term-deal-wise [to guess which players were using PEDs]. You never know."

Though steroids were prevalent in the 1990s and early 2000s, both Piniella and Guillen said they never had seen one.

"I wouldn't know a steroid from [marijuana]," Piniella said.

Players, managers and coaches have become versed in discussing steroids. Guillen said he can't win whichever way he answers the questions.

"If I say, 'Well, Sammy, he made a mistake,' people will say, 'Shut the [heck] up. You knew what he was doing,' " Guillen said. "On the other side, if I say 'Sammy shouldn't be doing this,' well, he wasn't the only one.

"Personally, Sammy saved this city. Sammy saved the game. People were looking at Sammy like he was God. To me, Sammy saved baseball. Three people -- Cal Ripken Jr. [after the '94] strike, Sammy and Mark McGwire, they saved the game."

Sosa and McGwire completed a much-celebrated march to breaking baseball's single season home run record in 1998, both surpassing Roger Maris' 61 -- Sosa with 66, McGwire 70.

Sosa went on to hit 60-plus homers twice more. Former Giants slugger Barry Bonds, who has been a key figure of the BALCO steroids investigation, holds the record with 73 in 2001.

Guillen also believes that the names of Latino players are being leaked at a disproportionate rate.

"As more names come out, you're shocked," he said. "It's like, 'Damn, who's next? What's going to happen next?' ... A couple days ago we were talking about Pablo Ozuna. What the heck are you doing? Now we're talking about Sammy Sosa. Why don't we get the names out there."